I had the priviledge of meeting Daniel Rothamel in San Francisco in 2007 at the First ReBar Camp, where I met so many of my Activerain friends and blogging buddies.
Daniel is one of the most ethical, servant orientated people I know.
If you are on Twitter, or Facebook then you probably already know what is going on.
For a detailed, passionate view of what is going on, then I recommend reading the Phoenix Real Estate Guy, Jay Thompson, post The Lones Group v Rothamel: A Case on Destroying Your Online Reputation on it.
But, in essense Daniel is being sued for $75,000 by The Lones Group in Washington, who claims he stole her brand. It was first reported on Inman News yesterday, and since then has been all over Social Media.
I like Dale Chumbleys comment on Inman: Hmmm... I'm from WA. I've attended classes of Denise's. I've never associated her as the Real Estate Zebra. From the moment I first heard of Daniel he's always been the Real Estate Zebra. Has she really trademarked stripes? She is a trainer. Daniel is a Realtor. This thing stinks in my opinion. I believe Todd stated it clearly... The court of opinion is going to rule strongly on this one.
I'm not going to repeat all the story here, as you can read it on both Jay's and Inmans's blogs.
Drew Myers, formally of Zillow wrote a great post on The Lones Group, Trademark Infringement Suit, Lones Group Brand Suicide, and Why SEO Matters
However, I am calling for the Activerain community to get involved, if you know Daniel and want to help him out.
Jay Thompson started a site for Daniel to help raise funds for his legal defense. I know if this was me, or if it was you, we would not have the funds to defend ourselves so I totally support Jay's efforts.
The name of the site is ZebraDefenseFund.com and you can donate from there.
There is also a Facebook Group, Stop the Frivolous Lawsuit against the Real Estate Zebra, set up you can join.
Questions:
- Can you trademark a Zebra or any other animal?
- Can you trademark a color?
- Are you watching your brand?
Over the years, I have taken photos of various zebra's because of my relationship with Daniel, Kari and Lil' Zebra. 
Missy Caulk & Team can be reached at 734-926-9797 or email: Missy@MissyCaulk.com
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Stay strong, stay faithful, stay honest, stay loving, stay true to who you are, most importantly stay true to who God is as you'll be who you are, and you'll be happy, you'll be you, you'll be free. -Jamie Caulk
